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Friday, March 18, 2011

Japan : No. of dead or missing tops 16,000 as infrastructure being restored

" Vital infrastructure was gradually being restored Friday in areas hit a week earlier by the mega earthquake, while the fate of tens of thousands of people remained unknown.

Around 90,000 rescue workers, including police officers and Self-Defense Forces personnel, have reached some 26,000 survivors so far, while the number of dead and unaccounted for exceeded 16,000—6,405 deaths and 10,259 missing, a National Police Agency tally showed as of 9 a.m.

Damaged roads, airports and ports have been gradually repaired, with the Tohoku Expressway and the submerged Sendai Airport open to emergency vehicles, airplanes and helicopters.

But delivery of relief goods contributed from around the nation to evacuees and survivors still remains difficult due to shortages of fuel and transport vehicles. Some 380,000 people are still staying at 2,200 shelters at a time when temperatures in the quake-hit areas remain at midwinter levels.

Fuel scarcity forced the Miyagi prefectural government to allow burial of victims without cremation."